


Finger

by rudbeckia



Series: Random Worlds [28]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack, Innuendo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 03:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12267813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Armitage Hux, ink still drying on his Ph.D. certificate, has been directed by Professor Snoke to teach newbie Ph.D. student Ben Solo how to use the vacuum system for preparing specimens for the electron microscope. Ben drags their technical talk into the gutter and Armitage decides to take a chance.





	Finger

Ben reached for the nearest red valve control handle on the machine in front of him. It looked as if it had been knocked together in someone’s garage, which wasn’t all that far from the truth. The university where he had just begun his Ph.D. with Professor Snoke and his postdoc research fellow, Armitage Hux, was not affluent and their department epitomised the spirit of make do and mend.

“No!” Armitage’s hand shot out and grabbed Ben’s wrist before he could do any damage. “Not like that! You have to open and close the valves in the correct order or you’ll contaminate the whole system again.”  
“Ugh it’s too complicated. Can a lab tech do this?” Ben scowled at the glass dome inside the metal grille that served as an implosion guard. “Why do I need to use the vacuum deposition apparatus anyway. I am a _researcher._ Not a technician.”  
“If you want,” retorted Armitage, “you can tell the chief tech that it’s her job to prepare your specimens for analysis.” He stepped back, lifted the grille and pulled up the glass bell-jar with a slick _pop_ as its seal broke. He grinned at Ben. “Just let me sell tickets. I know a few people who’d pay good money to see Phasma punch your face.”

“Fine. Show me again.” Ben sighed. “There are too many things to remember. Maybe I could stick labels on all the valves.”  
“What, and have Professor Snoke _know_ that you’re a dumbass? I think that time you opened all the valves at once by mistake instead of closing them and coated the inside of the system with vacuum oil was enough to convince him already.” Armitage used forceps to load an old specimen upside down, mounted on a stubby steel button that would fit snug in a holder set on gimbals inside the scanning electron microscope. He carefully broke off a short strand of pure gold wire, hair thin, and threaded it through the spiral tungsten heater element below his sample. He smiled at Ben. “Come on, you tell me what I should do and I will follow your instructions unless they’re wrong.”

“Okay,” Ben sighed and stretched his shoulders. “You mounted your sample upside down so that no dust falls on it.”  
“Right.”  
“And now you have to pump out all the air because... because... you just do.”  
“Because the air will...?” Armitage’s prompt fell on unreceptive ears.  
“Uh, ruin everything?”  
“I suppose that’s as good an answer as I am going to get from you tonight.” said Armitage. “Yes, the presence of air inside the chamber would, as you say, _ruin everything.”_  
“Did Snoke tell you to mock my lack of experience or is that just part of your charm?” Ben scowled at Armitage this time, and really did consider for a second how he’d look with the bell jar over his supercilious face. 

Armitage sucked in a breath but said nothing. Ben pointed at the open top of the system.  
“You put the bell jar on and make sure the seal is clean, then you put the guard over it.”  
“Yes,” said Armitage, doing as Ben said. “Why?”  
“Because you need to keep the vacuum in and nobody looks good with shards of glass embedded in their face,” replied Ben. Ben counted silently but only got to four,  
_“Keep the vacuum in!_ Good lord, Ben. I bet when you close the curtains at night you’re keeping the dark out.” Armitage rolled his eyes. “Can’t have all that nothing escaping, can we?”  
Ben grinned.

“Okay next you need... um... the sloshy cold stuff.” Ben nodded. “Yes, definitely. For the frosty sticky-outy bit.”  
“Ugh Ben! Can’t you even remember _pour liquid nitrogen into the trap for the cold finger so that all the water vapour condenses?”_  
Ben tilted his head to one side, smiled and shrugged. Armitage opened an angled port on the side of the machine, just under the bell jar, and poured carefully into it from a thick polystyrene container. Vapour coursed down to the floor and Ben imagined it chilled their feet. Armitage put the bucket down and replaced its lid.  
“Next?”

“Turn on the pump that goes whirrwhirrthuddathuddathudda. Give it a minute then open... THAT valve.” Ben pointed. Armitage turned on the pump and waited, eyebrows raised. Ben sighed. “Don’t make me say it!” Armitage did not respond. Ben sighed again. “Ugh okay! _Lefty loosy righty tighty._ Does that make you happy?”  
Armitage smiled and opened the valve to the rough pump. Ben watched in satisfaction as the pressure gauge needle dropped.  
“Now what?” asked Armitage.  
“Um, we go and have coffee?” suggested Ben. “I mean, it takes a while and this is pretty dull.”

Armitage frowned. He really ought not to leave it unsupervised, but it had been a long day and he deserved some reward for teaching the broad-shouldered, wavy-haired new Ph.D. student how to deposit a fine coating of conductive, inert gold on his specimens so that his images would come out sharp and detailed instead of blurred by the buildup of static charge. He glared at the vacuum pump, daring it to break down.  
“I’ll even buy you a muffin. Come on, say yes.” Ben smiled and Armitage let his face relax.  
“Fine. Twenty minutes, no more, then you’re going to tell me how to use the oil diffusion pump.”

The campus coffee shop was nearby. Ben ordered two black coffees and two different muffins while Armitage chose a table. It was after hours so it was quiet: the academic staff had gone home for dinner and the undergraduates were far too cool to socialise so early. Ben sat at right angles to Armitage and unloaded his tray.  
“I got one double chocolate and one apple crunch.”  
“They’re both good!” said Armitage, reaching for the chocolate one. “Share them both?”  
Ben nodded, and Armitage pulled both muffins in two. 

Armitage wrapped his hands around his mug and shivered. “I have bad circulation. Cold fingers.”  
Ben snorted. “If you get cold fingers, do I get a rough pump?”  
Armitage almost choked on his muffin. He coughed and recovered while Ben sniggered.  
“I’ll have you know I have a fine pumping mechanism and Professor Snoke wants me to teach you how to use it.”  
“Aww,” Ben pouted. “But I like the way your rough pump vibrates.”  
Armitage’s cheeks flushed pink but he leaned forward and murmured, “Personally, I prefer the smooth, quiet action of the oil diffusion pump.”  
“Ooh! I want to use your oily pump!” Ben giggled. Armitage grinned and shook his head.  
“If you don’t shut up, I will warm my _cold finger_ in your specimen aperture.”  
Ben leaned closer and said quietly, “I’d like that.”

Armitage felt like his heart raced and his stomach dropped. He stared at Ben for a few seconds, lips parted. Ben’s gaze faltered first.  
“We should get back.”  
“Yes we should,” said Armitage. “Thanks for the break. I needed that.”  
Ben stood up and led the way back to the lab. They went straight to the rattling vacuum system.  
“Damn it!” Armitage closed the valve and shut down the noisy rotary pump. “There must be a leak. Sorry, Ben, we’ll have to wait until Phasma has time to check all the seals. At least we get to go home now instead of staying here half the night.”  
“Oh.” Ben hid his disappointment with a sneer. “Maybe Phasma can find a better one on eBay.”  
Armitage shrugged. “I need to get my coat. Meet you by the main door? I have to make sure you’re out before I lock up.”

Ben nodded and picked up his coat and bag from his lab bench. On his way past he looked at the vacuum gauge, frowned, then grinned. Armitage met him as agreed after a couple of minutes. Armitage smiled and put on a cheerful voice. “You know, if neither of us has any other plans for this evening, perhaps you’d like to come round to my place? For... for—“  
“For rough pumping? To warm your cold fingers in my aperture?”  
“For a very pleasant fuck,” said Armitage, “or two.”  
They left the crumbling, old building and Armitage leaned back to pull the heavy double doors closed and lock them. Ben slipped an arm inside Armitage’s open coat and around his waist, pulled him close and kissed him. Armitage returned the kiss and pulled away and Ben laughed.  
“What?” demanded Armitage. “You’re always laughing at me.”  
“I was only thinking that to ensure we can identify and eliminate anomalous results, we should repeat our investigation at least three times.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic exists because I got the random word “finger” and I remembered my days as a materials scientist working in an electron microscope lab. We had the most ridiculous looking vacuum system for putting a “gold flash” on our specimens. I think the chief tech made it in his garage.
> 
> The “cold finger” was a finger-sized cylinder of metal that was cooled with liquid nitrogen so that the water vapour would condense out of the air, because water vapour is a total bitch to pump out of the vacuum. I found this out once when a fly* got into the bell jar and it took a _day_ to get a decent vacuum. 
> 
> Negative - lots of boring waiting around  
> Positive - I had a desiccated, gold plated fly to look at in the scanning electron microscope. It was surprisingly hairy.
> 
> *I swear I didn’t know about it until it was too late for the fly, and who knew flies were so wet!


End file.
